The Shopkeeper of All Worlds in the British Wizarding World

Chapter 4 Diagon Alley and an unexpected acquaintance

The next day after breakfast, Mr. Lambert took Ryan on the subway to Charing Cross Road, which was only about half an hour away from their home.

On the way, Ryan kept thinking about questions about the Harry Potter world.

In the novel, the magic world is not the kind of high magic world where demigods are as numerous as dogs, liches are everywhere, and supernatural beings dominate. But from some perspectives, the supernatural side of this world is not that simple.

For example, in the realm of life, there is the Philosopher's Stone that can make people immortal. In the realm of time, there is a time converter that can be used by a little girl. In the realm of space, there are space expansion spells and teleportation spells that are popular among adult wizards. There are even lucky potions that can affect cause and effect and fate. These things, especially some popular spells about space and mind, can be said to be hundreds of years ahead of the world's technological side.

The magic in this world may not be as simple as imagined. After all, Rowling wrote a fairy tale, which is only a part of the wizarding world.

As for the issue of wizards' combat effectiveness, even Peter Pettigrew, who was considered a bit lame, could blow up half a street. This can only mean that the wizarding world is not weak in combat effectiveness, but that many things related to combat have been deleted from school education, and this knowledge can only be passed down through the family.

Ryan breathed a sigh of relief when he thought of this. Fortunately, he had a grocery store of all worlds, which should be able to make up for the shortcomings of his lack of certain knowledge as an ordinary person. After all, he went to school in the same year as the Savior. Thinking about the original text of the novel, he knew that these years would definitely not be peaceful.

It seems that the previous life plan needs to be changed. Now the main goal should be to improve strength. After all, strength is the foundation of the magical world. Otherwise, why is Dumbledore the leader of wizards instead of Fudge?

As he was thinking, Mr. Lambert, who was walking in front of him, suddenly stopped.

"We're here. This is 24 Charing Cross Road... 28. Hey, why isn't there a 26?"

Ryan looked up and saw an old, run-down bar in front of him, with a wooden sign that read The Leaky Cauldron, between a record store and a bookstore.

"Dad, hold my hand." Ryan pulled his father and pushed open the door of the bar.

"This is amazing," Mr. Lambert exclaimed as he looked at the room in front of him. It was a medieval-style bar that didn't look very tidy, the lights were a little dim, and some people in robes were drinking or playing dice.

Maybe they stood at the door for too long. A man with almost no hair and a shrunken walnut-like appearance appeared in front of them quietly: "I'm Tom, the owner of the Leaky Cauldron. It looks like you need help." After saying that, he glanced at Ryan and said: "Are you a freshman at Hogwarts for the first time?"

"Yes," Ryan said. "We have never been exposed to magic before. Can you tell me how to get to Diagon Alley? I need to buy things for school."

The boss Tom gave an ugly smile: "Diagon Alley, follow me." Then he led Ryan and his son to the backyard. Tom took out his wand and pointed it at the back wall. "Count three on top of the trash can, and count two horizontally... knock three times!"

As Tom tapped, the wall shook and began to move, until a wide archway appeared, leading to a winding cobblestone street with no end in sight.

"You'd better go to Gringotts first. Just go straight and see the tallest white building to exchange wizard currency." After saying that, Tom put away his wand and left. The father and son walked along the cobblestone street towards Gringotts. There were bargaining sounds and some strange animal calls from the shops on both sides of the street. Mr. Lambert showed the curiosity of a writer. Ryan took some effort to stop him from leaning on the glass to look at the exquisite gold-plated astronomical model.

Soon, they arrived in front of a snow-white building that towered over the surrounding shops. Next to the shiny bronze door stood a goblin in a scarlet and gold uniform (Mr. Lambert complained in Chinese: "Is this a goblin? It's obviously a goblin that looks like a human."). The goblin looked up at the two of them, then said weakly: "Are you a new student at Hogwarts? Go to the special window to exchange currency. There is a sign there to remind you."

Entering the golden hall of Gringotts, there was indeed a counter in the corner of the hall with a sign saying "Hogwarts New Student Currency Exchange".

"Hello." Ryan walked to the counter and greeted the goblin.

"New student, tell me your name."

"Lian Liang"

"Confirmed, you are on the list." The goblin said as he took a look at a piece of parchment.

"New students can exchange up to 200 Galleons per year." After saying that, he handed over a bag. Mr. Lambert took out a stack of 50-pound notes that he had taken out from the bank last night and handed it to the goblin at the counter. Then he said to Ryan, "This is a bit like China. Last time, your uncle told me that he also has a quota for each person when exchanging pounds, and he has to write a lot of documents."

After exchanging the money, the two decided to start with the familiar things, so they went to various shops and bought magic robes, textbooks, crucibles, scales, potions, crystal bottles and other items on the list. Of course, Ryan declined Mr. Lambert's suggestion to give him a pet, saying that he would need all his energy to cope with the new environment when he was in a strange place.

The shopping process went smoothly. However, Ryan felt a little depressed when he thought about spending a large sum of money on a liar's novel next year.

Finally they came to a small, shabby shop with a peeling gold sign on the door that read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC. In the dusty window beside the door, a solitary wand was placed on a faded purple cushion.

Pushing open the door, Ryan found a man in a suit trying out wands with his daughter. Their backs looked familiar.

Before he could figure out where he had seen that figure before, Mr. Lambert walked up to him and said softly, "Mr. Granger, I didn't expect to see you here."

Ryan suddenly remembered that Mr. Granger was a dentist and his clinic was not far from his home. He had been to his clinic to check his teeth before. The most important thing was that his daughter was in the same school and grade as himself, but not in the same class. Her daughter always ranked second in the grade in school exams (Ryan: "It is not worthy for a college student to be proud of getting first place in elementary school. He should be humble.").

Suddenly, Ryan froze. Granger, a dentist, a girl with brown curly hair, who went to Hogwarts in 91. It was easy for him to guess who this girl was. He had never known before, on the one hand because he thought this was an ordinary world and didn't think in that direction, on the other hand because Miss Granger looked a little different from an actor, and most importantly, the name of the lady he heard at school should be pronounced closer to Hermani, which was very different from the Chinese pronunciation of Hermione.

Ryan felt the world's hostility towards him as an outsider, and it seemed that his plan to survive for seven years would have to be revised.

(End of this chapter)